I Want Adventure in the Great Wide Somewhere
by LaineyWrites
Summary: Belle recollects on her provincial life, and is surprised by a visit from a big, blue box...
1. I'm the Doctor!

"_I've never met anybody who wasn't important."_

This dull, old field. It angered Belle, even if it was her escape. She came here everyday with a book in hand, and a moody disposition thanks to that brat, Gaston. As much as this place was her safe haven, it felt like she was...stuck. Stuck in this provincial town, with these judgmental people, so shallow and greedy. Gaston was the worst of all. The only other person she could stand was her father, the inventor, Maurice.

She sat in the grass, opening a book she had read a thousand times, flipping through the pages. Belle sighed. It wasn't even a proper story anymore, just words she had memorized and many years ago, she had even loved.

An odd noise, some sort of technology, filled her ears, and she furrowed her brow in confusion. Was her imagination acting up again? She glanced in the direction of the sound, and her brown eyes widened. A blue box, fading and coming back. Soon the box settled, and she hesitantly got up to inspect it. She touched it. Solid, wooden, definitely not a hallucination...

"Hello!" a chipper man said cheerfully, making Belle jump and let out a tiny yelp. "Oh, did I frighten you? Greatest apologies." He held out his hand with a grin on his face. "I'm the Doctor."

Belle watched him with fascinated, though greatly confused and skeptical, eyes. She hesitantly shook his hand, being the polite French girl she was. "Doctor what?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "Oh. People don't usually ask _that_, it's always-" his voice went to a higher, sassier pitch, as if impersonating a woman, "'Doctor _Who?_' Anyway, what does it matter? I'm the Doctor, just the Doctor. And you are?"

"I...I'm Belle," the woman replied, obviously a bit suspicious of this "doctor." What doctor didn't have a name? That only convinced her even more that this was some sort of dream, this wasn't logical! But then Belle scolded herself, when had she ever liked something logical? She liked books about princesses and magic and wizards! And now she was like the people in those books who don't believe in it, then get turned into frogs. She looked at the metallic gadget in his hand, wondering if it was a wand.

The lanky man noticed her looking at his Sonic, and he held it up, waving it a little. That only made Belle shield her face, as if worried he would cast an ugliness spell. "No, don't worry! Just a screwdriver. It's Sonic!" He smiled and tapped her on the shoulder with it. "Most harmless gadget in the world."

Belle looked at it for a moment, as if it might move, and she timidly took it into her own hands. She turned it this way and that, and it didn't hurt her. She supposed that did make it harmless. For now. "What's the box for?" she asked, her voice surprisingly strong and confident.

"TARDIS! Time and Relative Dimension in Space. This, Belle, is my time machine!" the Doctor said, his arms going up to make a pose that presented the box, like a woman on a game show showing someone a new horse and carriage. Of course, Belle had absolutely no idea what any of this meant. Time machines weren't written about in the classic novels of her era. There were tales of dragons, and princes, but nothing of such advanced magic...Magic? Was that what this man was?

He ran a hand through his spiky, uncontrolled hair, sighing. She didn't understand. See, that was the problem with humans, especially humans who didn't have exposure to such modern ideas. The Doctor gave her a smile, though, and motioned for her to go in. "Go on. It's safe." His voice was soft, as if he was speaking to a small child.

Belle stepped into the doorway the man had come out of, and her eyes widened. What?! Just...WHAT?! All this technology, all the buttons and levers, oh, her father would have a fit! She took a few more steps inside to get a closer look, then she realized. How could all of _this_ fit in a box as small as _that?_ She quickly stepped out, looking around the box again, ignoring the Doctor's amused smirk, then ran back in, him following after her.

"It's...It's bigger on the inside!" she exclaimed, just walking around quickly, examining every little thing in the main control room.

The man in the blue suit chuckled. "Yes. Yes, it is. It's another dimension." He felt like he was repeating himself, it was always this sort of explanation, but he liked it. He enjoyed habit, repetition. He wasn't quite used to it, so he savored it when he got it.

"It can travel anywhere you like. Anywhere in the whole of creation, Belle, any planet, any star, any time...Would you like to see?"

There was no hesitation in the girl's bright eyes, a childlike excitement filling her up now. She nodded quickly, even if she couldn't quite understand what he meant. The only way to figure it out was to learn, to study.

And finally, after all these years, she had a chance to break free from that provincial life.


	2. Future

"_So...All of time and space, everything that ever happened or ever will- Where do you want to start?"_

"Doctor?" Belle asked, biting her lip for a moment as she circled around the control panel of the TARDIS. "You really mean...That I can go..._anywhere?_"

The man grinned, hands in his suit pockets, just watching her with pure excitement. Of course, it did hurt a little to think that she was so innocent. He hadn't ruined her life yet...That thought made his smile falter slightly, and he tried to push the thoughts away. He had already ruined so much. Maybe this time he'd get lucky.

"Anywhere you like, madame," he said with a nod. "Allons-y! You should know that, it's Fre-"

"Let's go indeed!" Belle said happily. So far that was probably the only thing the Doctor said that made sense. She tapped her chin, thinking some more. "Do you mean I can see the future?"

The Doctor chuckled. A common choice. The future, or go to see their past to try and change it. Obviously he preferred the former. He nodded. "I'll take you to 2012, pretty far into your future."

TWO THOUSAND?! Belle was just in 1800s right now! Oh, that was amazing that the Earth got to live that long, she hadn't thought it would honestly. She grinned and nodded quickly. "Is it gorgeous? Is it better than Juliet's house during the masquerade?"

He grinned wider, ecstatic to take her. "Oh, yes. Maybe someday I can take you to go see Shakespeare himself. Bit of a flirt, but a genius all the same." Especially since the Doctor helped him out with some of his writings. He smirked at the inside joke with himself. The look on Belle's face was so excited, so amazed. Honestly, it did inflate his ego to know just how brilliant he was.

"Hold on, Miss Belle!" he called to her as he yanked on a lever, making the whole box shift to the left, and she immediately held onto a rail, letting out a faint yelp in surprise. Belle clutched onto it, squeezing her eyes shut like a little girl on a rollercoaster. The Doctor watched her with cautious eyes, not wanting to give her too much too fast, he knew some humans got startled and went into shock and things.

Once the TARDIS settled in 2012 Paris, he went to her, as she was still grabbing onto the railing with white knuckles. He put a hand on Belle's back. "It's okay, it's stopped." He gave her a soft smile as she opened her eyes to look up at him.

Belle let go and ran to the doors, opening them a crack, then pushing them all the way out. Her eyes widened. It was...So different. The Eiffel Tower was there, but it looked so...old. And seeing these girls, dressed in barely anything, Belle felt so modest in her simple blue dress and apron. Her mouth fell open and she took a hesitant step out. Everyone had a cell phone in their hands, and she furrowed her brow. "What are those?" she asked the Doctor, who had followed her out.

"Those? Mobiles. Uh. Hm." It was rather hard to explain new things to old things. "You talk into them, or type out words like in books, and other people can hear or read them." Belle's brunette eyebrows raised and she smiled.

"It's amazing. We grow this much?"

The Doctor was surprised, in a proud way of course. She was taking this very well, she wasn't freaking out or making a scene. She was calm. A good trait for a companion.

He nodded. "Yes." He clever sidestepped the "we," as he wasn't human himself, but he wasn't going to dump that on her yet. "Come on, off we go. Need to show you the future!" He took her hand and started walking with her, showing her the world she would never live to see.


End file.
